"Asus has a trio of Windows 8 tablets on deck for the holidays, but the pricing is so high - $599 to $1299 for a hybrid - that it's going to be nearly impossible to compete in the marketplace. We were leaked Asus' holiday roadmap and the slide below tells the tale." If this is for real, Windows 8 is screwed in the tablet space. Nobody is going to buy a Windows tablet at prices higher than the iPad.

these are new and low volume products. they'll charge whatever they can get for them, but lets look at the historical precedent: netbooks.

given that these atom convertibles are netbook hardware with some extra features, the prices should look higher than a premium netbook today, or like an early expensive netbook.

good netbooks were $500 in 2008, and are about that price now. that looked like a lot compared to a full laptop which had more of everything and cost the same price.

the atom netbook in that slide is $1000. that's a lot. if competition drives it down to $750 before the next product cycle, that might make some sense. 50% premium for convertible convenience and touch screen features.

even the arm netbook there seems expensive. $800 for what people might see as a big nexus 7 ($200) with a keyboard and a broken windows. but for comparison, asus can get $600+ for their TF700T which is probably the same hardware. so how much is the broken windows rt license with faux-office worth to anybody. $100-$200? asus thinks so.

I for one am most interested in the "yoga"/"tai-chi" flippable form factor. if a manufacturer can make this work, it might be considered superior to the detachable monitor method, which seems unnatural compared to flipping the screen around. I might find a use for an ultrabook that flips backwards to become a tablet.